Josue Mercado
56 posts

Josue Mercado
@ItsImLikeWoah
Everything is better when you're wet.







Dr. Young: Thank you for your response. I do not have the capacity, ability, or desire, to judge another's standing before God. When I debate, I wish the focus to be upon the issues at hand for the benefit of the audience who will listen. I have debated many who would make no profession to being my brother in Christ, and did so with respect---respect for them, for the audience, and mostly for the importance of the topic at hand. You have made a claim to be an expert in Greek, Hebrew, and early church history. I have taught Greek, Hebrew, and church history since the early 90s. I am currently professor of Church History and Apologetics at Grace Bible Theological Seminary. I am published in the field (_The Same Sex Controversy_) and have done numerous major debates with leading proponents of the "other side" for over two decades (Barry Lynn, Bishop John Shelby Spong, Graeme Codrington, and last week, Keith Giles). What is more, I have demonstrated the ability to engage in such debates in a proper, scholarly fashion, over the course of one hundred and eighty moderated debates on a tremendously wide variety of topics and contexts. All of that *should* be enough to provide a basis for engaging your claims in social media regarding your support of the LGBTQ+ agenda. But it seems you are saying that I must begin by granting to your position (which is what I would be debating) the very status I say it cannot possibly have: that of being faithful to biblical Christianity. A "good faith" Christian debate is on where the rules are followed for the benefit of those who wish to understand the positions being presented. That does not require me to say that affirming LGBTQ+ viewpoints is within the "pale of orthodoxy" or is in any way a valid expression of biblical beliefs. It is not. I have often sought to get together with my Muslim opponents prior to debates, and have found this very helpful indeed. I wish in my younger years I had done that with other debate opponents, in fact. However, this topic is one wherein I, as a Christian pastor, am seeking to protect the sheep from destructive and false perversions of the biblical message. It would be wonderful if you were brought to a position of ceasing your false teachings by such a debate, but I confess, my goal would be focused upon those watching or listening to such an encounter. And surely you must admit, you have made just as strong condemnations of the errors you think I am promulgating by upholding the historic Christian position on sexual ethics. But I believe it to be inappropriate to make, as a demand for the debate to take place, that I *begin* by confessing the "presence of Christ within" one who is teaching falsehoods that directly impact the very essence and definition of the gospel. I hope you will reconsider this demand while at the same time recognizing that if, in fact, your position, proclaimed by yourself as an expert in Greek, Hebrew, and early church history, is so strong and defensible, defending it successfully against someone such as myself would do your position great good. So I hope the possibility will remain open for a clear, uncompromising debate on the issues. I link to three such debates that I have engaged in as clear evidence that this topic can be handled properly, with scholarly respect, without any pretense of having to grant to the other side some kind of spiritual authenticity: youtu.be/8oV1bStOK3w youtu.be/vnVRLsbNx0k youtu.be/AU8Roc53QLE




@MattWalshBlog Outright menacing and vicious

















